AWKWARD “Fateful” and “I Am Jenna Hamilton” Review

AWKWARD “Fateful” and “I Am Jenna Hamilton” Season 1 Episodes 11 and 12 – It was either Sherlock Holmes or Spock who said “When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.” And so in the final two episodes of Awkward, “Fateful” and “I Am Jenna Hamilton,” the true author of The Letter is revealed to be…

Really? You thought I’d give it away up front? I don’t think so.

It’s winter formal time and Jenna desperately wants Matty to ask her, but he’s doing his usual clueless dude routine which for some reason Jenna still finds forgivable. She accept his lame invitation and looks genuinely happy and peaceful for the first time all season. It doesn’t hurt that someone submits her for Sophomore Princess.

Of course this bliss can’t last. While Crazy Counselor (CC) is distracted by her personal life, Sadie steals Jenna’s file from her desk and finds The Letter. Guess what shows up on the back of every ballot for the Princess court? Sadie is a miserable little wretch and it was nice (if more than a bit out of character) to see CC finally act like an adult and ban her from the dance for her actions.

With Jenna back as the laughingstock of the school, she can’t help but interpret Matty’s sudden plan to rent movies and chill on the night of the dance as his way of avoiding being seen in public with her. There’s another interpretation, of course (which is why I’ve grown to love this show), that Matty wanted to spare Jenna from a big, public event, but it’s easy to see why Jenna basically tells him to go to hell. She is tired of being someone’s secret. She wants to be someone’s girlfriend.

But does she really want that someone to be Jake? After initially turning down his invite to the dance, Jenna rethinks her answer post-Matty and agrees to go with him as friends. She even invites Tamara and Ming to go with them, to make it less of a date and more of a group thing. But Jake’s charms are natural and irresistible. He likes Jenna. But more than that, he is comfortable enough in his own skin not to care what anyone else thinks about her or him or them being together.

Even Lissa, after expending all the effort left in her body (after cheerleader practice and prayer) trying to make Jake jealous, has to concede to Jenna. She even tells Sadie where she can stick it. Again, a little out of character, but Sadie was the one responsible for her breakup with Jake. Sadie better watch out; she’s losing friends faster than she can scare up new ones.

When Matty shows up at the dance, seemingly ready to be with Jenna, he finds her with Jake. Sweet, dopey Jake who still has no idea that Matty was Jenna’s original date. Seeing how happy Jake is and how capable Jake is of giving Jenna everything he never did, Matty throws in the towel and lets Jenna go. She’s moved on, to the point where she’s ready (or she’s able to fool herself into believing she’s ready) for Jake to spend the night of the dance with her.

If not for Jenna setting off her house’s alarm system in her (understandable) eagerness to get Jake into bed, she might never have realized who wrote the letter. While looking for the alarm code in the family junk drawer, Jenna finds a blank tablet of paper…that matches the paper on which The Letter was written.

Honestly, I suspected this awhile back, especially as candidate started getting eliminated. If it wasn’t any of Jenna’s friends or enemies…who was left? And while it seems unthinkable that a mother could do something like that, let’s examine what we know about Jenna’s mom. She loves her daughter, but she sometimes expresses that love in mysterious ways. She wants a certain kind of daughter; this could have been her twisted way of helping Jenna become that sort of daughter.

Or we could have been tossed another red herring. I honestly can’t be sure and, again, I love Awkward for that. Not many shows on MTV this day are honestly funny, genuinely touching and have a mystery that keeps us coming back for more. I’m counting down the days until season two!

What did you think of the episode? Has anyone switched from Team Matty to Team Jake? How much did you hate Sadie’s formal dress? What are your thoughts about next season? Let me know below!

About The Author

Born and raised in Florida, but currently living in Los Angeles, Kristen is an aspiring television writer who is willing to give any TV show a chance, unless it involves real wives. When she’s not flipping channels, she can be found either reading a good, old-fashioned bodice ripper, discussing the failures of George Lucas with her friends over cherry pie at Mel’s Diner or trying to round up one or more of her Star Trek RPG players. She’s a proud member of the Romance Writers of America and hopes to finish one of her novels someday.

I’m Team Jake and I think they make a better couple but I don’t like the way Jenna broke up with Matty nor do I like how she’s dishonest with Jake.

If Jenna wanted the limo she should have said so when Matty asked. If she wanted to go to the dance then she should have said no when he asked her if they could rent a movie instead. I know her feelings have been festering for some time but the timing of her outburst seemed a little unfair. He was actually trying to change and that doesn’t happen overnight.

Also I think she’s being unfair to Jake. She’s keeping a huge secret from which will definitely affect their relationship. You’ve got a love Triangle with one of the three people not even knowing they are in one. She’s also essentially using him as a rebound. I think he deserves better than that. Plus it’s going to cause harm to his friendship with Matty and he won’t even know why.

Anonymous

I’m Team Jake and I think they make a better couple but I don’t like the way Jenna broke up with Matty nor do I like how she’s dishonest with Jake.

If Jenna wanted the limo she should have said so when Matty asked. If she wanted to go to the dance then she should have said no when he asked her if they could rent a movie instead. I know her feelings have been festering for some time but the timing of her outburst seemed a little unfair. He was actually trying to change and that doesn’t happen overnight.

Also I think she’s being unfair to Jake. She’s keeping a huge secret from which will definitely affect their relationship. You’ve got a love Triangle with one of the three people not even knowing they are in one. She’s also essentially using him as a rebound. I think he deserves better than that. Plus it’s going to cause harm to his friendship with Matty and he won’t even know why.

Mariano

I was totally shocked! How could her mother have written The Letter?! I mean, yes, we all know that her mother is special but….WOW, i didn’t see that one coming!

On the other hand, I knew that Jenna ‘will end’ the season with Jake….but let’s be realistic, when season 2 begins there will be a few things that are going to change, and this relationship is one of them!

Mariano

P.S.: Sorry for the bad spelling, I’m Spanish!

Jonkincheloe

I am team Matty! I think that if she would have just told him what was bothering her then he would have completely explained himself and it would have probably been a good reason. I do like Jake though too he is a very nice and funny guy. Thank you so much for making this site because we had dvr’d it and we didnt know what she found in the drawer because it cut off right as she found something, and I was like AGGGHHHHHHH NOOOOOO!! haha but yes I am definately glad I gave this show a chance because as I woke up this morning my girlfriend was watching it and I almost immediately changed it, but she begged me not to so I started watching it then really liked it! Then when I had to go to work we set like 5 episodes to record on our DVR and honestly when the last one ended we were both REALLY bummed out! When does the second season start?